Alpha-decay for heavy nuclei in the ground and isomeric states

The alpha-decay half-lives of nuclei in the ground states and Isomeric states have been calculated within the WKB approximation and Royer's formulas. The barrier in the quasimolecular shape path is determined within a generalized liquid drop model (GLDM). in which the centrifugal potential energy has been introduced to study the unfavored a-decay The agreement between the calculated results and experimental data indicates the reliability of studying alpha-decay of isomeric states with the generalized liquid drop model We find that their is no significant difference of preformation probability between Isomeric states and the corresponding ground states generally in favored alpha-decay Additionally. we extended Royer's formulas by taking account of the role of centrifugal harrier to study the unfavored alpha-decay, and some predicts oil the a decay half-lives of Isomers are made Finally. the effects of angular momontum transfer and Q(alpha) on alpha-decay half-life have been discussed Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

PROPERTIES OF ALPHA DECAY TO ROTATIONAL BANDS OF HEAVY NUCLEI

In the framework of the generalized liquid drop model (GLDM) and improved Royer's formula, we investigate the branching ratios and half-lives of alpha-decay to the members of the ground-state rotational bands of heavy even-even Fm and No isotopes. The calculated results are in good agreement with the available experimental data and some useful predictions are provided for future experiments.

Fragment mass distributions in the fission of heavy nuclei by intermediate- and high-energy probes

Recent experiments have shown that the multimode approach for describing the fission process is compatible with the observed results. Asystematic analysis of the parameters obtained by fitting the fission-fragment mass distribution to the spontaneous and low-energy data has shown that the values for those parameters present a smooth dependence upon the nuclear mass number. In this work, a new methodology is introduced for studying fragment mass distributions through the multimode approach. It is shown that for fission induced by energetic probes (E > 30 MeV) the mass distribution of the fissioning nuclei produced during the intranuclear cascade and evaporation processes must be considered in order to have a realistic description of the fission process. The method is applied to study (208)Pb, (238)U, (239)Np and (241)Am fission induced by protons or photons.

超重核合成机制—包含中子、质子跃迁的二维主方程

用双核模型研究超重核的合成机制，最主要的部分是由双核系统演化到复合核的熔合机制研究。双核模型认为超重复合核的形成是由弹核的核子全部转移到靶核所致。核子分中子和质子，在以前的研究中，描述熔合过程的主方程是一维的，以类弹核的质量数 为变量，与此对应的驱动势也是一维的。对确定的 ，其同位旋的确定是由较低的势能面确定的，这样确定的同位旋与反应系统的同位旋很接近。但是我们的研究发现，对入射道同位旋与复合系统同位旋相差较大的情况，入射道在双核系统势能面比较高的位置，有时甚至在最高位置，这时核子转移的同位旋路径比较复杂，以致一维主方程的描述给出错误的结果。为此，建立了以类弹碎片中子数 和质子数 为变量的二维主方程，并建立了二维主方程的分步差分的解法，完成了解二维主方程的程序编写。并对一些典型的弹核、靶核同位旋与复合系统同位旋相差较大的系统进行了研究。对这些反应道的研究表明，无论1D主方程对这些反应道的蒸发剩余截面的研究给出了过高、或过低的估计，2D主方程都能给出与实验值一致地结果。二维主方程适用于所有的弹靶组合入射道。对确定的超重核目标，可以较准确的对各种弹靶组合的合成几率给出预言，特别是研究合成超重核的同位素依赖性，因而极大增加了预言合成预期超重岛区域超重核的弹靶组合的选择性。本工作还检验了一维主方程的适用条件：入射点必须在比较接近二维驱动势谷底时才适用，这时一维主方程预言的蒸发剩余截面的结果与二维主方程的结果很接近

超重核合成机制—包含中子、质子跃迁的二维主方程

用双核模型研究超重核的合成机制，最主要的部分是由双核系统演化到复合核的熔合机制研究。双核模型认为超重复合核的形成是由弹核的核子全部转移到靶核所致。核子分中子和质子，在以前的研究中，描述熔合过程的主方程是一维的，以类弹核的质量数 为变量，与此对应的驱动势也是一维的。对确定的 ，其同位旋的确定是由较低的势能面确定的，这样确定的同位旋与反应系统的同位旋很接近。但是我们的研究发现，对入射道同位旋与复合系统同位旋相差较大的情况，入射道在双核系统势能面比较高的位置，有时甚至在最高位置，这时核子转移的同位旋路径比较复杂，以致一维主方程的描述给出错误的结果。为此，建立了以类弹碎片中子数 和质子数 为变量的二维主方程，并建立了二维主方程的分步差分的解法，完成了解二维主方程的程序编写。并对一些典型的弹核、靶核同位旋与复合系统同位旋相差较大的系统进行了研究。对这些反应道的研究表明，无论1D主方程对这些反应道的蒸发剩余截面的研究给出了过高、或过低的估计，2D主方程都能给出与实验值一致地结果。二维主方程适用于所有的弹靶组合入射道。对确定的超重核目标，可以较准确的对各种弹靶组合的合成几率给出预言，特别是研究合成超重核的同位素依赖性，因而极大增加了预言合成预期超重岛区域超重核的弹靶组合的选择性。本工作还检验了一维主方程的适用条件：入射点必须在比较接近二维驱动势谷底时才适用，这时一维主方程预言的蒸发剩余截面的结果与二维主方程的结果很接近

DETERMINING THE DENSITY DEPENDENCE OF THE NUCLEAR SYMMETRY ENERGY USING HEAVY-ION REACTIONS

We review recent progress in the determination of the subsaturation density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy from heavy-ion collisions as well as the theoretical progress in probing the high density behavior of the symmetry energy in heavy-ion reactions induced by high energy radioactive beams. We further discuss the implications of these results for the nuclear effective interactions and the neutron skin thickness of heavy nuclei.

Properties and structure of N = Z nuclei within relativistic mean field theory

The axially deformed relativistic mean field theory with the force NLSH has been performed in the blocked BCS approximation to investigate the proper-ties and structure of N=Z nuclei from Z=20 to Z=48. Some ground state quantities such as binding energies, quadrupole deformations, one/two-nucleon separation energies, root-mean-squaxe (rms) radii of charge and neutron, and shell gaps have been calculated. The results suggest that large deformations can be found in medium-heavy nuclei with N=Z=38-42. The charge and neutron rms radii increase rapidly beyond the magic number N=Z=28 until Z=42 with increasing nucleon number, which is similar to isotope shift, yet beyond Z=42, they decrease dramatically as the structure changes greatly from Z=42 to Z=43. The evolution of shell gaps with proton number Z can be clearly observed. Besides the appearance of possible new shell closures, some conventional shell closures have been found to disappear in some region. In addition, we found that the Coulomb interaction is not strong enough to breakdown the shell structure of protons in the current region.

Influence of entrance channels on the formation of superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions

Within the framework of the dinuclear system (DNS) model, the production cross sections of superheavy nuclei Hs (Z=108) and Z=112 combined with different reaction systems are analyzed systematically. It is found that the mass asymmetries and the reaction Q values of the projectile target combinations play a very important role on the formation cross sections of the evaporation residues. Both methods to obtain the fusion probability by nucleon transfer by solving a set of microscopically derived master equations along the mass asymmetry degree of freedom (ID) and distinguishing protons and neutrons of fragments (2D) are compared with each other and also with the available experimental data. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Extracting single-particle information for the superheavy mass region by studying excited structure in transfermium nuclei

Recent experimental advances have made it possible to study spectroscopy in very heavy nuclei. We show that from the excited high-spin structure of transfermium isotopes, one may gain useful information on single-particle states for the superheavy mass region, which is the key to locating the anticipated 'island of stability'. In this work, we employ the Projected Shell Model for Cf, Fm, and No isotopes to study rotation alignment of the particles that occupy particular high-j intruder orbitals.

Atomic parity nonconservation, neutron radii, and effective field theories of nuclei

Accurately calibrated effective field theories are used to compute atomic parity nonconserving (APNC) observables. Although accurately calibrated, these effective field theories predict a large spread in the neutron skin of heavy nuclei. Whereas the neutron skin is strongly correlated to numerous physical observables, in this contribution we focus on its impact on new physics through APNC observables. The addition of an isoscalar-isovector coupling constant to the effective Lagrangian generates a wide range of values for the neutron skin of heavy nuclei without compromising the success of the model in reproducing well-constrained nuclear observables. Earlier studies have suggested that the use of isotopic ratios of APNC observables may eliminate their sensitivity to atomic structure. This leaves nuclear structure uncertainties as the main impediment for identifying physics beyond the standard model. We establish that uncertainties in the neutron skin of heavy nuclei are at present too large to measure isotopic ratios to better than the 0.1% accuracy required to test the standard model. However, we argue that such uncertainties will be significantly reduced by the upcoming measurement of the neutron radius in 208^Pb at the Jefferson Laboratory.

Active galactic nuclei: sources for ultra high energy cosmic rays

Ultra high energy cosmic ray events presently show a spectrum, which we interpret here as galactic cosmic rays due to a starburst, in the radio galaxy Cen A which is pushed up in energy by the shock of a relativistic jet. The knee feature and the particles with energy immediately higher in galactic cosmic rays then turn into the bulk of ultra high energy cosmic rays. This entails that all ultra high energy cosmic rays are heavy nuclei. This picture is viable if the majority of the observed ultra high energy events come from the radio galaxy Cen A, and are scattered by intergalactic magnetic fields across much of the sky.

Forward-angle incoherent photoproduction of pseudoscalar mesons off nuclei

The mechanism of forward angle incoherent photoproduction of pseudoscalar mesons off nuclei is revisited via the time-dependent multicollisional Monte Carlo (MCMC) intranuclear cascade model. Our results-combined with recent developments to address coherent photoproduction-reproduce with good accuracy recent JLab data of pi(0) photoproduction from carbon and lead at an average photon energy k similar to 5.2 GeV. For the case of. photoproduction, our results for k = 9 GeV suggest that future measurements to extract the eta ->gamma gamma decay width via the Primakoff method should be focused on light nuclei, where the disentanglement between the Coulomb and strong amplitudes is more easily achieved. The prospects to use heavy nuclei data to access the unknown eta N cross section in cold nuclear matter are also presented.

Search for K isomers in 252,254 No and 260 Sg and investigation of their nuclear structure

Study of K isomerism in the transfermium region around the deformed shells at N=152, Z=102, and N=162, Z=108 provides important information on the structure of heavy nuclei. Recent calculations suggest that the K-isomerism can enhance the stability of such nuclei against alpha emission and spontaneous fission. Nuclei showing K isomerism have neutron and proton orbitals with large spin projections on the symmetry axis which is due to multi quasiparticle states with aligned spins K. Quasi-particle states are formed by breaking pairs of nucleons and raising one or two nucleons in orbitals near the Fermi surface above the gap, forming high K (multi)quasi-particle states mainly at low excitation energies. Experimental examples are the recently studied two quasi-particle K isomers in 250,256-Fm, 254-No, and 270-Ds. Nuclei in this region, are produced with cross sections ranging from several nb up to µb, which are high enough for a detailed decay study. In this work, K isomerism in Sg and No isotopes was studied at the velocity filter SHIP of GSI, Darmstadt. The data were obtained by using a new data acquisition system which was developed and installed during this work. 252,254-No and 260-Sg were produced in fusion evaporation reactions of 48-Ca and 54-Cr projectiles with 206,208-Pb targets at beam energies close to the Coulomb barrier. A new K isomer was discovered in 252-No at excitation energy of 1.25 MeV, which decays to the ground state rotational band via gamma emission. It has a half-life of about 100 ms. The population of the isomeric state was about 20% of the ground state population. Detailed investigations were performed on 254-No in which two isomeric states (275 ms and 198 µs) were already discovered by R.-D. Herzberg, but due to the higher number of observed gamma decays more detailed information about the decay path of the isomers was obtained in the present work. In 260-Sg, we observed no statistically significant component with a half life different from that of the ground state. A comparison between experimental results and theoretical calculations of the single particle energies shows a fair agreement. The structure of the here studied nuclei is in particular important as single particle levels are involved which are relevant for the next shell closure expected to form the region of the shell stabilized superheavy elements at proton numbers 114, 120, or 126 and neutron number 184. K isomers, in particular, could be an ideal tool for the synthesis and study of these isotopes due to enhanced spontaneous fission life times which could result in higher alpha to spontaneous fission branching ratios and longer half lifes.